Friday, April 29, 2016

by Alex Brockman Originally published: April 28, 2016Publisher: CBC.caA new survey of Muslim Canadians suggests an overwhelming majority have a strong attachment to Canada.The survey, conducted by the Environics Institute between November 2015 and January 2016, reached out to 600 Canadian Muslims. It shows Muslim Canadians are becoming increasingly integrated into the broader Canadian society.But it also showed young Canadian Muslims report higher levels of discrimination than their older counterparts and were less optimistic about how Muslims will be treated in the future.CBC Radio's Windsor Morning host Tony Doucette sat down with Remy Boulbol, a practicing Muslim woman in Windsor, Ont. who works at a women's shelter to discuss her reaction to the survey.

by Shanifa Nasser Originally published: April 28, 2016 Publisher: CBC.ca

Laya Behbahani never questioned her Canadianness until a recent incident at the Vancouver airport.The 31-year-old lecturer at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C., was born in Iran and moved to Canada when she was 13. While going through the passport check after returning home from a trip, she said, she was pulled aside by a border services agent and questioned about her religion and why she frequently travels outside the country.At one point, Behbahani said, the agent asked her: "How Canadian do you really feel?""It made me stop and wonder, 'Why would you ask me that? Would you ask someone without a headscarf that question?'" she said.The majority of young Muslims in Canada feel Muslim first and Canadian second, an Environics Institute surveyreleased Wednesday suggests.Some experts suggest that's because young Muslim Canadians feel a strong societal pressure to have to answer for violence perpetrated by extremists in the name of Islam and are struggling to reclaim their Muslim identity for themselves.

by Alia Dharrsi Originally published: April 28, 2016Publisher: CalgaryHerald.com When the Calgary auto dealership where Jose Osano was working as a car detailer supported his application for permanent residency through the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program (AINP) in August 2014, he was thrilled. “I’m working for my family,'” said Osano, a temporary foreign worker who was so keen to earn as much as he could that he visited his children and wife only once, in 2011, after coming to Canada in 2008.He used the money he earned in Canada to pay for his two daughters, aged 22 and 19, to attend university, and for his son, 10, to attend a private school in the Philippines. He also planned to build a house for his family, who lived in one of Manila’s shanty towns when he first left for Canada. But, less than two years later, Osano is awaiting the details of his impending deportation in Calgary’s Foothills Hospital, where he has been recovering from a stroke he suffered in December 2015 and racking up a bill of more than $100,000 without provincial health-care coverage.

Originally published: April 28, 2016Publisher: Guardian.com It reverses the 2014 decision to abolish the post and include it in the age discrimination portfolio.The federal government has gazumped a Labor policy announcement by moving to appoint a new disability discrimination commissioner.Federal cabinet has agreed to appoint a full-time commissioner to advocate for the rights of people with disabilities, reversing a 2014 decision to abolish the role, which was absorbed into the age discrimination commissioner’s job.It is understood the appointment will be announced next week.The government has been facing pressure from advocates who argued disability-related complaints formed the Australian Human Rights Commission’s biggest caseload.

by Brad Wheeler Originally Published: April 28, 2016Publisher: GlobeandMail.comThe bumper sticker on Norman Lear’s car read “Just another version of you.” It was his way of saying he was the same as you, and that you are the same as the next guy. That we are all, if I may, in the family.Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You is the title of the imperfect but compelling documentary making its international premiere at the Hot Docs film festival on April 30 at TIFF Bell Lightbox. Although the film on the pioneering sitcom producer (of All in the Family, Maude, Good Times and The Jeffersons) is mostly laudatory, the Jewish and white and intensely liberal Lear is viewed more dubiously by John Amos, the actor who portrayed the father on Good Times, a comedy set in a Chicago housing project.Amos, whose character was written out of the hit show after three seasons, maintains that while the series was important because it was the first to star a black family, it was a white man’s version of that black family. Moreover, Amos took exception to making Jimmie Walker’s buffoonish J.J. character the show’s central attraction. “It was a way,” Amos says, “of putting us all down.”

by Megan Rose Dickey Originally published: April 28, 2016Publisher: TechCrunch.com Peer-to-peer marketplace Etsy has released its first diversity report since going public last April, showing that people who identify as women make up 50% of the leadership and management roles at the company. In 2014, women held just 37% of leadership roles at the company. What’s also notable about this report is that it represents gender in a non-binary way.As of December 2015 at Etsy, 53.9% of employees identify as female, 45.6% of employees identify as male and 0.5% identify as “other.” Employees had the option to self-report gender from a list of more than 60 options. Those that fall into other are the ones who did not identify as cisgender male/man or cisgender female/woman.“This reflects our belief that gender lies on a spectrum, and follows operational changes we’ve made in the last year, such as converting our bathrooms to be gender inclusive,” Etsy Director of Culture & Engagement Juliet Gorman wrote on the company blog.

by Cale Gutherie Weissman Originally published: April 28, 2016Publisher: FastCompany.com Many companies are leaving out some of the most important statistics when disclosing their diversity numbers.Earlier this month, Microsoft wrote a blog post about its gender pay gap. It shared that its pay gap between men and women is much smaller than the national average, and that overall its non-white employees earn slightly more: Microsoft's U.S. female employees make on average 99.8 cents to every dollar their male counterparts make. For non-white employees the breakdown goes: "African American/black employees are at $1.003; Hispanic/Latino(a) employees are at 99.9 cents; and Asian employees are at $1.006 for every $1 earned by Caucasian employees at the same job title and level, respectively." The company pledged to continue monitoring this data and publicly disclosing it.Over the past few years, leading technology organizations—like Microsoft—have begun releasing internal numbers, which divulge the demographics of the companies as a whole, as well as the diversity breakdown of talent and information about the outreach programs the companies participate in. It’s become a trend, almost—companies admitting that they need to focus on diversity and then releasing statistics to highlight their commitment to the issue. Other companies, including Slack and Pinterest, have hired positions with titles like "Head of Diversity" to more directly combat this issue. And while strides are undoubtedly being made, perhaps a full story isn’t always told.

by Shelia ColeOriginally published: April 27, 2016Publisher: CBC.caIt's Friday morning in the basement kitchen at the Living Spirit Centre in Regina.Brayden McNeill, who has a cognitive disability, is measuring out ingredients for a balsamic vinegar dressing.Today's order is for marinated vegetable salad, a fruit platter, and chicken soup. It's for a school lunch.McNeill has been a part of Munch Cafe and Catering since it started in February."It's fun to work with food and a good experience," said McNeill. Munch began with the passion of two Regina women, Emily Tarr and Gwen Herman.Both have a strong drive to support those with disabilities and help them find work."I have the capacity and the skills and the compassion to be able to do this work," said Tarr. The two women believe that offering skills and experience to those with disabilities is the key to creating employment.

by Claudine Kapel Originally published: April 26, 2016Publisher: HRreporter.com What will it take to close the gender wage gap?That’s a question that has been dominating news headlines of late. And with good reason — it’s a significant challenge with business, regulatory and societal implications.A new paper by Ontario’s Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA) offers recommendations on what is needed to close the gap. For government, these include:

Thursday, April 28, 2016

by Erik Brady & Scott Gleason Originally published: , Publisher: USAtoday.com Connor Griffin wondered if he’d feel like a fish out of water as a gay athlete at a Catholic college. Instead, the freshman swimmer quickly found a home in the chlorinated waters of Fordham University's pool and the catholic attitude of its student body.Catholic, in its lowercase iteration, means broadminded — and Griffin says he found immediate acceptance when he came out to his new teammates on arrival last summer. Then when he came out publicly months later, he garnered online support from many others he’d never met."People want to tell me I’m brave,” Griffin tells USA TODAY Sports. “Coming out as gay isn’t brave, or shouldn’t be. I was born this way. I didn’t choose it. People choose to enlist in the Army. That’s brave. Coming out should just be normal and not a big deal.”

by Alex Reimer Originally publisher: April 27, 2016Publisher: Forbes.com Brad Burke, Gareth Hughes and Adam Woullard are hardly the first three people to expose the obscene amount of harassment women in sports face on social media. But few have done so more poignantly.The three friends, who work in the media industry and host a weekly podcast titled “Just Not Sports” released a video Tuesday that addresses the sexism and misogyny that many women face online on a daily basis. The PSA, titled #MoreThanMean, features randomly selected men who read vile tweets directed towards ESPN’s Sarah Spain and Chicago-based broadcaster Julie DiCaro, both of whom have been outspoken about the prevalence of cyber harassment.“I told [the men], ‘We’re going to have you read mean tweets to Chicago reporters,’” Burke says. “So they all assumed it was going to be funny, like a Jimmy Kimmel video. So the first three or four tweets on the page were funny. Then it takes a turn and the air gets sucked out of the room. Seeing it in person was unbelievable –– the way they moved in the chair, the way they paused and couldn’t make eye contact anymore. It was crazy.”

by Shankar Vedantam & Maggie Penman Originally published: April 26, 2016Publisher: WHQR.com Quirtina Crittenden was struggling to get a room on Airbnb. She would send a request to a host. Wait. And then get declined."The hosts would always come up with excuses like, 'oh, someone actually just booked it' or 'oh, some of my regulars are coming in town, and they're going to stay there,'" Crittenden said. "But I got suspicious when I would check back like days later and see that those dates were still availableLabelsIn many ways Crittenden, 23, is the target audience for AirBnb. She's young, likes to travel, and has a good paying job as a business consultant in Chicago. So she started to wonder if it had something to do with her race. Crittenden is African American, and on AirBnb, both hosts and guests are required to have their names and photos prominently displayed on their profiles.

Concerts in Charlotte and Raleigh were cancelled because of the "hateful law"

Demi Lovato and Nick Jonas announced Monday that they would cancel their concerts in North Carolina because of HB2, the law that eliminates local protections for LGBT people and requires transgender citizens to use the bathroom that matches the gender on their birth certificates.

Originally published: April 26, 2016Publisher: Udel.edu Universities are “the perfect place” to have the difficult, often uncomfortable, conversations that are needed to combat instances of bias, racism, sexism and violence that have drawn attention across the U.S. in recent years, Ana Mari Cauce told an audience at the University of Delaware.Cauce, who is president of the University of Washington, delivered the spring 2016 Distinguished Lecture on Diversity in Higher Education on April 22 at UD. She told those attending the talk that, although the past two years have been “a really tough time” for those who value diversity and inclusiveness, she is hopeful because incidents of bias have often been met by resistance.“Student leaders have stood up to racism and bias” when those instances occur on and off campus, Cauce said. Students have been having discussions about the issues, taking action and remaining engaged, she said, and universities across the country have been talking seriously and working to promote diversity.

by Hernán GuaracaoOriginally published: April 27, 206 Publisher: AldiaNews.com This Wednesday, April 27, AL DÍA will host at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, the Philadelphia Diversity Career Fair, a 15-year-old tradition in our city. Mayor Jim Kenney is expected to open at noon.Just a few weeks ago the reputable publication The Economist wrote about what they consider a pervasive condition in the culture of corporations in America.The always sharp editors of the prestigious global publication called it “Diversity Fatigue,” which, in their definition, is when the aspirations of a company to achieve diversity don’t go beyond politically correct statements, and doesn’t evolve because of lack of determination from the top— meaning the board, and/or the CEO and his or her executive team.Then it becomes something like corporate propaganda that no one believes, not even those in charge of disseminating the politically correct statements to all the employees and the company.The publication suggested that this condition creates doubts, anxieties and, worst of all, can cause devastating damage to the company’s productivity as it affects the morale of the entire team.As AL DÍA’s publisher and editor-in-chief recently wrote in his own column, “authentic diversity is above all an obvious economic imperative of our times — one that has the power to make or break Philadelphia’s chances to compete on the national or the global scene.

Originally published: April 25, 206Publisher: BostonGlobe.com Despite longtime criticism that corporate boards need to diversify, most of them remain stubbornly white and male. Fed up with that status quo, a group of minority executives in Boston has decided that if recruiters won’t come to them, they’ll go to the recruiters.A contingent of local black, Latino, and Asian business bigwigs recently traveled to New York City for a meeting at the Urban League with Charles Tribbett 3rd, managing director of Russell Reynolds, an executive search firm. They were there to learn more about the board recruiting process — and to try to get their names at the top of national recruitment lists.“People had the opportunity to ask questions they typically may not have the opportunity to ask,” like what skills boards are looking for and how to craft a resume accordingly, says Carol Fulp (right), CEO of The Partnership, a Boston group that nurtures minority professionals. “It was quite a fruitful day.”

by Arundhati RamanathanOriginally published: April 26, 2016Publisher: LiveMint.com Women directors believe board diversity has not yet become a priority in recruitment processesBengaluru: The debate continues on whether quotas are the right way to ensure diversity on company boards, but women directors largely seem to agree with that approach.A 2016 April Global Board of Directors study by executive search firm Spencer Stuart and Women Corporate Directors Foundation surveyed about 4,000 male and female directors from 60 countries and found that 49% of female directors supported diversity quotas; only 9% of male directors were in favour.This could be because women directors still believe diversity is not a priority in board recruiting and that traditional networks tend to be male-dominated, said the global study.“I support a quota on boards for women, because in the natural course of how the nomination committee operates, chances of women popping up in their list are lower,” said Rama Bijapurkar, a market strategy consultant who has served on boards of 11 large listed firms including Axis Bank Ltd and Infosys Ltd among others.

Original published: April 27, 2016Publisher: OttawaCitzen.caA new national survey reveals what it is like to be Muslim in Canada, and how this has changed over the past decade.The results show that Muslims as a whole are embracing Canada's diversity, democracy and freedoms, and feeling more positive about the country than a decade ago. This is despite continuing to experience discrimination due to religion and ethnicity, well above levels experienced by the Canadian population-at-large.This survey is a follow-up to the first-ever national survey of the country's Muslim population conducted by the Environics Institute in 2006. In both cases, a complementary survey of the non-Muslim population was also conducted to provide comparative measures of mainstream opinions about the Muslim community.

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

by Marisa EndicottOriginally published: April 26, 2016Publisher: DisabilityScoop.com As self-driving cars move toward becoming a reality for the general public, many aging people and those with disabilities see a new opportunity for mobility approaching.Advocates are pushing manufacturers and regulators to ensure that people with disabilities are included in the planning and development of automated technology and regulation.“Our desire is to be in that same class of consumers with people who are already on the roads,” said Parnell Diggs, a board member at the National Federation of the Blind. “If there’s an autonomous car, there needs to be a means by which a blind person can operate that car as well.”

by Melody HahmOriginally published: April 26, 2016Publisher: Finance.Yahoo.com When there’s only one female job candidate in a pool of four finalists, the odds of her being hired are statistically zero. That’s according to the latest study from the University of Colorado. Three researchers conducted a study that examined a university’s hiring decisions of women and men for academic positions. The sample size was 598 job finalists, 174 of whom received job offers over a three-year period. The team's findings? The odds of hiring a woman were 79.14 times greater if there were at least two women in the finalist pool. And the odds of hiring a minority were 193.72 times greater if there were at least two minority candidates being considered. Each added woman in the pool of candidates doesn’t increase the probability of hiring a woman — the difference is between having one or two female candidates. The authors say this “get-two-in-the-pool effect” could be a first step in overcoming unconscious biases.

Originally published: April 26, 2016Publisher: Nature.com Female scientists face everyday, often-unintentional microaggression in the workplace, and it won't stop unless we talk about it, says Tricia Serio.Of all the questions I have been asked in my scientific career, perhaps the most troubling came from a former department head when I told him I was expecting my second child. “Was it planned?” he asked.I had not yet secured tenure and took his remark to suggest that I was not committed to my career.While I inwardly seethed at his assumption, I did not challenge it. Instead, like many women, I manoeuvre around such awkward and frequently offensive situations. In fact, at a women-in-science event at which I spoke, the organizer began by sharing strategies to change the subject when faced with inappropriate comments. But why should we? When such techniques are recommended as a form of professional development, enough is enough.The problem of sexual harassment in science has been discussed in these pages and elsewhere, but less attention is paid to more indirect, subtle or unintentional comments. I think that this behaviour, sometimes known as microaggression, poses the greatest threat to diversity in science. Don't underestimate the sting and shock that these comments can cause: they make it quickly and painfully clear to women that, whereas we take situations at face value, others overlay our gender as a relevant consideration.

by Jan LeeOriginally published: April 26, 2016Publisher: TriplePundit.com Forty-some years ago, when self-propelled wheelchairs were a new sight, rebuilding walkways became the defining emblem of physical accessibility. Cities invested millions of dollars into refashioning street corners to ensure that people using wheelchairs and walkers and those accompanied by guide dogs could safely cross the street.These days, those gentle sloping ramps are an assumed part of the architecture not only in cities, but also small towns, parks, and national and state landmarks. So are accessible bathrooms, entrances and redesigned hotel rooms.In fact, one has only to turn to the English language to realize how far we have come. Advocates for accessibility have worked hard over the years to elevate our consciousness in how we speak about people who are differently-abled. The phrase accessibility has supplanted our mindset about disability and handicapped limitations — or at least, it has tried.

by Allison Moodie Originally published:Publisher: theGuardian.com Only 58% of people with autism in their early twenties work for pay outside of the home. A new employment initiative funded by AT&T aims to change thatAn estimated 500,000 children with autism are due to enter the US workforce in the next decade, but the majority will struggle to land their first job. Meanwhile, four out of 10 young adults with autism never work in their early twenties. This group has the lowest rate of employment compared to peers with other disabilities, according to a 2015 report from Drexel University.Now, a new employment initiative is hoping to bridge the gap and make good use of the often overlooked skills that people with autism can bring. The plan, conceived by more than 20 companies and organizations in March, aims to train 5,000 people with autism for technology jobs by 2020.How to help autistic students succeed at university

The consortium includes businesses that will offer training and jobs, and includes AT&T, Canadian software consulting firm Meticulon and technology service provider MindSparks Technologies. AT&T will provide most of the funding – though the company declined to disclose the amount – while other organizations will offer staffing and help pay for expenses.

by Teuila FuataiOriginally published: April 26, 2016Publisher: Rabble.caOntario service organization Community Living Algoma officially ended its sheltered workshop program in September.The Sault Ste. Marie group, headed by executive director John Policicchio, began operating the program in the 1960s. "By the early 1990s there was somewhere close to 130 people who attended the sheltered workshop," Policicchio said. Under the name Soogoma Industries, program participants performed a range of jobs, including woodwork, print-shop, manufacturing and assembly, and kitchen catering.For their work, they received a stipend of between 50 cents and $1.20 an hour.

by David Neumark Originally published: April 26, 2016Publisher: LATimes.com An aging population, coupled with low employment rates among Americans older than 62, poses severe challenges to the long-term sustainability of Social Security. Numerous reforms have been proposed to extend their working lives, including raising the retirement age. Such reforms may be unlikely to gain traction — not because people are so eager to retire, but because age discrimination sharply limits job opportunities.After decades of debate, most labor economists today accept that discrimination has played a role in limiting job market opportunities for minorities and women. There's been a steady buildup of evidence that is hard to refute. Most notably, in numerous field experiments, fictitious job seekers designed to be identical in every respect other than race or ethnicity apply for jobs either in person or online. Almost invariably the results show employers offering fewer jobs and interviews to minorities.What about older workers? Do employers likewise pass them over when they are equally qualified? The answer is critical to Social Security or any other reforms to public pensions that rely on keeping older workers on the job.

by Jacob PramukOriginally published: April 26, 2016Publisher: MSNBC.com JPMorgan Chase has gone above and beyond its peers in diversity and inclusion efforts, according to one measure released Tuesday.The banking giant was named the Diversity Corporation of the Year by the National Business Inclusion Consortium and National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. The groups highlighted the Top 30 American companies for diversity."We're proud of this recognition by NBIC," JPMorgan Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon said. "People are our most important asset and enable our long-term growth and success. Maintaining a diverse and inclusive workplace where everyone can thrive is not only the smart thing to do — it's the right thing to do."

by Brian O'Malley Originally published: April 25, 2016Publisher: Forbes.com “Children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority, disrespect their elders, and love talking instead of exercise.”“The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for parents or old age.”Taken out of context, these sound a lot like the things people say about the so-called “millennials” today. But really, the first quote is commonly attributed to Socrates in the 4th century AD, and the second to Peter the Hermit, in 1274.Older generations have historically despised the younger ones as frivolous, good-for-nothing, and responsible for ruining the world. The perception of millennials today is no different. One telephone survey found that 71% of Americans believe millennials to be selfish, while another 65% find them entitled. People make sweeping generalizations about millennials, ranging from how all they do is spend their parents’ money to just calling them flat out losers.Replace the word “millennial” with any individual race, religion or gender and you’d rightly spark mass outrage. Somehow, though, it is okay to make sweeping generalizations about the largest and most diverse generation in American history, at 81.1 million of the population, born between 1981 and 2000.

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

by Adele Peters Originally published: April 22 2016Publisher: FastCompany.com

When someone living in Berlin searches YouTube for racist videos from the Pegida movement—an anti-Islamic group trying to keep refugees out of Germany—they'll be forced to watch an unskippable ad first. A refugee will personally explain what's inaccurate about the facts they're about to hear.Taim, a Syrian refugee, explains why he won't be able to take jobs away from Germans. Aglia, a 28-year-old journalist from Syria, cites stats about the fact that refugees aren't criminals. Najaa, age 23, explains that she came to Germany because her home was bombed, not because she's after money. Bakary, a refugee from Mali, explains—in German—that it isn't true that refugees don't want to learn the local language.

by Sean Captain Originally published; April 25, 2016Publisher: FastCompany.com World Wide Hearing is using cheap tech, market incentives, and crash-course training to help restore hearing in impoverished communities."It's amazing what you can find in a kid's ear...think bugs and cockroaches and little tiny kids with a tremendous amount of mold coming out of their ears."That's Audra Renyi, executive director and cofounder of a 5-year-old Montreal-based nonprofit called "World Wide Hearing Foundation International" that wants to help the world's other 99%: The hearing-impaired people in poor countries who can't afford a hearing aid, debilitated by a condition that usually has a simple tech fix in wealthier societies."There are over half a billion people with hearing loss, and about half of that hearing loss is disabling," says Renyi. The full extent of the problem was unknown until 2005, she says, when a volunteer group of audiologists and doctors collaborated with the UN's World Health Organization on a global study. But the World Wide Hearing Foundation doesn't just raise awareness: It puts boots on the ground with a program called "Hearing Express" that trains locals to test people's hearing and provide radically discounted hearing aids.

by Eric B. MeyerOriginally published: April 25, 2016Publisher: TLNT.com Wait! Another age discrimination post?Yep. Because I want to juxtapose a constant barrage of age-related comments from non-decision makers with a situation in which a few stray, marginally age-related comments from the shot-callers can create a viable age discrimination.The case is Tighe v. BAE Systems.BAE Systems employed Dr. Tighe overseas. When he was ready to return to the USA, Dr. Tighe applied for an audit position within the company, which was considered a promotion. Dr. Tighe didn’t get the promotion.Dr. Tighe was old. How old? Age-discrimination old. Hence, this blog post.

by Valentina ZaryaOriginally published: April 22, 2016Publisher: Fortune.com The company says it’s just a big misunderstanding.On Wednesday, Cindy Gallop shared a photo of a poster advertising a gender diversity panel at PayPal on her Facebook with the caption, “Just going to leave this here.”Since then, the MakeLoveNotPorn founder’s photo has been shared by nearly 600 people, and of the 35 comments on the post, most are some iteration of “This is a joke, right?”What makes this particular poster so noteworthy is not so much what is on it, but what is not: women. For a panel on gender diversity, the lineup—which consists of five men—is decidedly not gender diverse.

by Annabelle Reitman Originally published: April 21, 2016Pulisher: td.orgWhat does the term unconscious bias really mean? Is it being prejudiced about an individual? Is it having a negative mindset about a group of people? In 3 Keys to Defeating Unconscious Bias, Sondra Thiederman defines a bias as “an inflexible, positive or negative, often unconscious belief about a particular group of people.” Other terms include hidden bias and implicit bias. Biases in the workplace can be barriers that not only prevent people from working together effectively, but also damage the development of inclusive relationships that foster creative and innovative ideas.How do you counteract thinking in generalities and stereotypes? When you meet someone or start to work with a colleague, client, or a supplier, ask yourself this basic question: “What do I think, believe, and perceive about this person?” This question includes negative and positive perceptions.

by Olivia Goldhill Originally Published: April 25, 2016Publisher: QZ.com Reverse mentoring, which involves younger employees taking senior managers under their wing, may sound like a new-fangled concept. But such schemes have been around for decades, with then-CEO Jack Welch introducing it at General Electric in 1999 to help his employees get to grips with the internet. But while reverse mentoring has typically focused on technology innovations, companies are now using such programs to help shift outdated sexist attitudes.Consulting firm EY is one such company to try and update its culture through reverse mentoring, reports The Times (of London). As part of the EY scheme, 35-year-old director Sayeh Ghanbari has spent the past five years mentoring managing partner Adrian Edwards, with a focus on gender issues.Ghanbari says she was a “little apprehensive” at first, but that Edwards was very committed, and set aside an hour a week for his mentoring. She decided to buy the coffee to signal their reversed roles, and allowed Edwards to bring up any of his questions or concerns.

by Kristen FraschOriginally published: April 25, 2016Publisher: HREonline.com Came across this recent research from the University of Missouri that adds credence to a Q&A I did late last year with the author of a Sexual harassment at work in the officebook titled Sex and the Office: Women, Men and the Sex Partition That’s Dividing the Workplace.Both the MU researchers and the author of the book, Kim Elsesser, seem to be getting at the same point about today’s sexual-harassment policies in the workplace. For the most part, they’re not effective because they incite more fear of possible infractions than encourage healthy banter between men and women.The more recent findings, from MU, studied how employees’ interpretations of sexual-harassment policies can invalidate the purpose of the policies. Researchers found that employee perceptions of how exactly “sexual harassment” is defined by a company’s policy can, in effect, eliminate or reshape the meaning of the policies and contradict the norms and values of the companies that try to enforce them.As one of report’s co-authors, Debbie Dougherty, associate dean of research and professor of organizational communication in the MU College of Arts and Science, puts it:

by Carlos García-AristaOriginally published: April 25, 2016Publisher: Skyword.com Before the arrival of the Spanish, the ancient Mexican people of the Totonacs added wheels to their children’s toy animals, but for some reason, they didn’t make wheelbarrows. Although they were only one step from the cart, they didn’t take it.One of the great thinkers of the twentieth century, French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss used gamblers as an example to explain why people like the Totonacs didn’t think to make obvious use of available inventions. There are not cultures more inventive than others, he argued. Simply, isolated cultures cannot enjoy the same cumulative effect as those which, like gamblers pooling their resources together, combine their play.In 2016, forming such coalitions in the office is equally important. You may have the equivalent of the wheel on your desk and need someone from another latitude that has the complementary idea required to build a cart—or sell it. The often unspoken hesitation is that foreigners come standard with accented speech, and some think that because of this, working effectively together will be difficult. Unfortunately, this assumption is founded in stereotype and prejudice.As workforces around the world become increasingly multicultural, the harmonious cohabitation of different accents in the workplace—and between global content teams—rises in importance. Because in the end, failure to foster such a workplace may prevent you from creating the next great invention.

by Kim Kaschor Originally published: April 25, 2016Publisher: CBC.ca Better policy in Hanover School Division would have protected him from bullying, says Evan Wiens

The young man behind the first gay-straight alliance in Steinbach, Man. is speaking out against the Hanover School Division's diversity policies.

Three years ago Evan Wiens fought to get a gay-straight alliance in his school. Now he is backing the efforts of a Steinbach-area mom who is fighting for the inclusion of LGBTQ issues in the classroom.

"Growing up in Steinbach and having gone through what I went through there, anyone standing up for LGBT issues in the town is really important to me," said Wiens.

The Hanover School Division's current policy prevents middle school teachers from talking about sexual orientation in the classroom, and that includes materials and conversations around families with same-sex parents.

Monday, April 25, 2016

Originally published: April 22, 2016Publisher: HRReporter.comThe 100 best workplaces in Canada have been announced for 2016 by Great Place to Work and published by the Globe and Mail. Winning organizations are those that are outperforming their peers in terms of financial success and in terms of innovation, according to Great Place to Work. The top organizations both in the medium size category and large employer category have several key things in common. "The very best companies have managed to create a culture where employees trust the people they work for, have pride in what they do, and enjoy the people they work with," according to Great Place to Work in a press release.

by Stephanie Vozza Originally published: April 21, 2016Publisher: Fastcompany.com Polling her more than 1 million readers helped Steinberg learn what tools they needed.When she reached her early thirties, Amanda Steinberg was frustrated to realize that her net worth was negligible—despite a lucrative career in computer programming. A search for guidance proved equally frustrating: The women’s magazines she usually read focused more on controlling spending than building wealth, and sites like MarketWatch and Yahoo Finance were full of photos of men and assumed a level of knowledge she lacked. "It’s been a man’s job to think about long-term financial planning," she says. And it shows: The Asset Funders Network reports that single women have 32¢ for every dollar of wealth owned by single men.In 2009, Steinberg set out to empower women with more information. She launched DailyWorth, a website and newsletter where she publishes advice on investing and financial security to an audience that has now grown to more than 1 million women.

Originally published: April 2016Publisher: HRreporter.com Why should your organization make gender diversity a strategic priority? Canadian HR Reporter sat down with leaders from Avanade Canada and Aspire at an International Women's Day event hosted by Avanade in Toronto to find out. Watch the video at the link.

by Eric Meyer Originally published: April 22, 2016Publisher: TLNT.com I’ve written a bunch about the deep doo-doo in which employers often find themselves whenasking about retirement or referring to an employee as “old man” or “old mother******.”So, for sure, you’d think that 20 comments over the course of several months at work ranging from “old man” to “old bastard” to “grumpy old bastard” to “How you doing old man, how’s it going old man?’” would get a plaintiff’s age discrimination claims to a jury.Random comments aren’t discriminationWell, it didn’t quite work out that way in Sterk v. Zimmer, Inc. The plaintiff claimed that these comments demonstrated that his age motivated the defendant to fire him. Except, well, Judge William C. Lee in the Northern District of Indiana will let my readers know why not:

by Lydia Dishman Originally published: April 22, 2016Publisher: FastCompany.com A recent report revealed a surprising gender gap: women job hop more than men and it’s getting more pronounced. While the analysts at LinkedIn who did the study said that further research was needed to determine why (it’s not about balancing family and work, as most of the job hoppers weren’t parents yet) the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) may have a clue.In the first gender-based study of its kind conducted in the STEM space in the U.S., the data revealed women leaving jobs was the result of multiple factors beyond sexual harassment that the survey "Elephant in the Valley" found rampant among established working women at tech companies in Silicon Valley.SWE’s Corporate Partnership Council’s study found that there are gender differences in workplace priorities, particularly as companies that are meeting female hiring goals are unable to retain them—especially five to eight years after they started.

by Annika Kushner Originally published: April 24, 2016Publisher: Ithacan.com Students shared their experiences with mental health and its intersection with race, gender and sexual identity at a panel titled “We’re Here, Too,” encouraging audience members to ask questions and engage in conversation to help break the stigma surrounding mental health.The panel was held at 8 p.m. April 20 in Textor 102 and emphasized marginalized communities, which are each impacted differently by mental health, through the sharing of personal experiences. It was run by Active Minds, a student health organization designed to increase awareness of mental health and provide students with related resources. This “Speak Your Mind” panel encouraged dialogue, helping people currently dealing with mental health to get help, talk about their experiences and start to break the stigma.Sophomore Alex Lopez, one of the co-presidents of the organization, said the title of the event describes marginalized groups’ struggle to be heard.“LGBT people, POC and other marginalized groups are here too, and their/our mental health is important and should be talked about more both in general and within those communities,” Lopez said.An audience of 23 listened to six panelists: sophomores Erin Kohler, Francesca Mendez, Keisha Osei and Candice Tan, and juniors Saul Almanzar and Summer Lewis.

by Glen Llopis Originally published: April 23, 2016Publisher: Forbes. com As the cultural demographic shift continues to transform the face of America, business leaders are taking a closer look at their Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) efforts and asking, ‘What really should our D&I efforts be solving for?The reality is that D&I is no longer just a numbers game, nor just another politically correct workplace initiative; it’s about bridging the opportunity gaps that will continue to widen if we continue to ignore the message the marketplace is clearly telling us: that it’s becoming less about the business defining the individual and much more about the individual defining the business. As such, American enterprise must adopt D&I as a strategy for growth if they are to compete in the 21st century. For those corporations that do, I believe there are at least six things that D&I can solve for in our efforts to bridge the growing opportunity gaps that span all industries.

by Mike Rogoway Originally published: April 24, 2016Publisher: Oregonlive.com Intel chief executive Brian Krzanich says the company's executives have faced unspecified "threats" from their own employees over their push to diversify the company's work force."People worry that as a white man, you're kind of under siege to a certain extent," Krzanich said at a Friday conference in San Francisco, according to the online journal TechCrunch."There's been a bit of resistance. We've even had a few threats and things like that on some of our leadership team around our position on diversity and inclusion," Krzanich said. "We stand up there and just remind everybody it's not an exclusive process. We're not bringing in women or African-Americans or Hispanics in exclusion to other people. We're actually just trying to bring them in and be a part of the whole environment."

The "Diversity Now" app was developed by

www.egloballearning.com

Diversity Now, the app

Want to keep up with the latest developments in the field of diversity? "Diversity Now", the most recent tablet / smartphone app by Global Learning, presents the latest news and ideas from thought leaders in the rapidly-changing area of diversity and inclusion. Global Learning has created a singular place to find a large variety of high quality content dedicated to diversity and HR. With sharing capabilities built directly into the app, "Diversity Now"is the perfect tool for social media professionals and practitioners constantly on the hunt for "just-in-time" diversity content.

Contact Global Learning today to inquire about becoming a sponsor or endorser of "Diversity Now" and how we can feature your organizations diversity initiatives instantly on the app. The world should know all about the great things you are doing when it comes to diversity, invite Global Learning to help you make that happen!